Empty beaches and 'unbearable stench': Mexico wages war on sargassum weeds⁣ ⁣ A small skiff moves through a stinking carpet of sargassum, dragging what looks like a threshing machine through the brown, floating seaweed choking the normally clear waters of the Mexican Caribbean.⁣ ⁣ A round-the-clock defense is underway against the invasion in Mexico's international tourism hub, including boats, barriers and manual beach cleaning teams, though officials are still downplaying the impact.⁣ The boat moves as if through a video game, searching for concentrations of the weeds to suck up. A ramp built into the prow uses a mechanical belt to scoop the sargassum off the surface of the water, bringing it into a chute inside the boat.⁣ ⁣ Efforts to scoop up sargassum are carried out on the high seas with a ship that can carry 300 tons of the seaweed, as well as smaller boats and amphibious vehicles. The final tactic entails gathering the brown algae by hand.⁣ Personnel from the Marines and local g...